We just got a new puppy. any advise?

[sdoll]

We just got our dream dog a golden retriever. So far so good. He has been great with our boys. But I have a few questions on the best way to train him.

We have him enrolled in puppy school but that does not start until late July so until then what is the best way to teach him not to bite?

Also for those of you with a larger dog what do we do with his stink? I know that is a weird question but it seems gross to just throw it away in our garbage can.

Thanks for any help!

 

[sahm1000]

Congratulations on your new family member!

We have an English Mastiff named Oscar that is our canine baby, we got him when he was a puppy and about 15 pounds. He's now around 230 pounds!

Oscar did have some undesirable behaviors when we first got him. We knew he was going to be a big boy so it was in our best interest to get rid of them as soon as possible. We got this suggestion from our trainer at puppy school....take an empty soda can and wash it out, put three pennies in it and tape over the opening. Then, whenever the dog does the undesirable behavior (barking, pawing at things, biting, etc.) you shake the can loudly and hard at him. Most dogs don't like the loud noise and this will help extinguish the behavior. This worked very well with Oscar!

As far as their "stink" goes......well, it will always stink! We use a shovel to pick it up and put it in a garbage bag which stays next to the house until garbage day and then we put it into the garbage can. My DH did it on the day he picked it up and it stunk up the whole garage! We also used a service once and that was great! They took it with them! So no stink for me to worry about.

Good luck with the new baby!

 

[TinaLala]

Okay get yourself a Nyla-bone! best thing in the world to help his teething. Everytime he bites or nibbles on you shove the Nyla-bone in his mouth. After awhile he'll figure it out that if he wants to nibble on something the bone is what he should be grabing. DON'T use shoes, towels, kid toys because he won't know the difference between a bad shoe and a good shoe.

Rmember Lilo & Stitch and the water bottle - You could also use a spray bottle and spray him with water everytime he bites telling him "NO BITE" once in a very stern voice. When he bites his own toys you tell him "good boy" to reinforce the behavior. There are nasty sprays out there at the pet store, but honestly they do the same thing as the water bottle.

Are you crate training? Crates really help them to have their own space - just make sure you have a really big one!

Try to keep them socialized - as best as you can on the weekends get them to the park where there's other dogs and people. You don't want a vicous dog because he never got out of the back yard.

 

[crisi]

Crate train.

As for biting, puppies do that. You want to correct by yipping (like another puppy would do) and stop playing with him for a few minutes.

His poop needs to go into your garbage. Because he is a carnavore, it will not compost well (and will stink to high heaven). We pick ours up in bags and tie them tight.

 

[veraletta]

Congratulations, now get a crate for him and save your self a lot of time training him.
It's a great way to train a puppy.
Feed him the same time every day.

 

[sdoll]

We bought the crate before we bought the dog. He will be crate trained for sure. So far so good. My DS 2 lays on the floor and kisses him over and over. I think he has been a great addition to our family. My oldest son is in heaven he woke me up a 3:30 this morning telling me he thought Marley was lonely for him and wanted him to sleep with him. Yeah right! I hope this love continues.
He is so darn cute!

 

[kaismahma]

Congrats on your new puppy. Our sweet Lacie is almost 6 and is a golden retriver. I am going to be honest she was so hard to train. (I have heard from other's too that GR's are a bit more difficult.) That being said she is one of the best dogs we have ever had.

Empty plastic bottles (water or pop) are great inexpensive toys for them to chew on. Get your pup into a routine right away. Feed then it's outside. Use words that you want them to understand and have evreyone in the house be consistant. Don't have one person saying go outside and the other saying potty, it takes longer for them to associate they are one in the same. Keep everything and anything picked up even if you think oh, its so cute she is carrying my sock around. Trust me after a few months she will be eating them.

Crate training is a must. Make sure though that you don't have to big of a crate to start off with. If it is bigger block part of it off. Puppies usually will not pee or poo in a crate they sleep in unless they have extra room where they can avoid, but do their business. Make sure they have enough space but not too much. As the puppy grows make your sectioned off area smaller.
Don't put food or water in there crate either. You want them to associate the crate with quiet time and sleep. Our other dog was a golden retriever/golden lab mixed and we did not get him until he was probably 4-5 and his kennel was his favorite place. He had the run of the house and was even allowed on the furniture, but would go to his kennel when we weren't home to sleep.

Good luck and enjoy the puppy. They grow up so fast. I hope you don't have issues with a feather bed like we had. I was so angry but I could not help but take pics of her and my masterbedroom covered in feathers. (Lacie was a little over a year when that happened.) Have Fun!

 

[stacy6552]

Puppies learn not to bite from littermates, so if your dog nips you you should use a high pitched yelp yourself.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I also agree that crate training is a must! Take him out OFTEN (like every 30 minutes) and praise him like mad each time he goes potty outside. Do not scold for potty inside, it's not his fault, it's yours for not taking him out enough and he will not understand why he's being scolded. Teaching him that outside is where we go potty and being really consistent about getting him out there is the key! Watch him at all times and if he cannot be watched, put him in the crate for a rest. If he is unsupervised, he will most likely get in trouble, that's what puppies do!

 

[sunnyday123]

stay away from rawhides, pig ears and anything else they can choke on. Get him a Kong toy stuff it with peanut butter or wet dog food mixed with dry and freeze it. It will entertain him for hours.

Gr's are very mouthy, and like someone else said, he would learn from his brothers and sisters not to bite. When he bites, yell loudly and stop playing with him. He'll get the hint. Don't forget to socialize him with kids of ages, dogs, cats and everything else in between!

 

[StitchFanZ]

While waiting for the class, take him to as many places as you can. Its important to get him socialized, so he gets along with other dogs.
If you kids are 4th grade or older, check out 4-h. They have a really good dog program where you kids will learn how to care for the dog, teach obedience, and even dog agility.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Hi,
You've gotten some great advice. Just wanted to add that our dog (80lb. black lab, just turned 1) loves the beef marrow/ soup bones. We put them in the freezer. It was the only thing we found that he didn't completely chew through when he was teething. If we gave him any "indestructable" dog chew toys or anything made of any kind of plastic, he would eat it and make himself sick. Also, if we didn't give him the bones to chew on, he would eat ANYTHING. The bones last forever. He love them and keeps a few in his crate.

 

[pixie921]

The only advice I'd add to what you've gotten so far is to be as patient as you possibly can with all the puppy misdeeds that will inevitably happen. I've heard it said over and over that it can take as much as 2 years for a dog to really mature and settle in to a good place psychologically in a household, and I think it's really true.

One of our dogs clicked with us immediately, but when we got a new puppy a little over 3 years ago, my dh and I thought it was the most colossal mistake we'd ever made! It literally took almost 3 years for her to find her place with us and now we can't imagine our family without her.

Have a ball with your new family member!!

 

[disneynewbee]

We have an 8yo golden named Blaze. The best dog we've ever had, but not easy to train, well potty training was easy but training not to bite proved quite difficult. For potty training we did two things. 1) if we could not be watching him he was in his crate. I know some people think crating is mean but it's better to put him in there so he can't chew or go to the bathroom on the floor while your not looking than to yell at him for something he doesn't know better than doing yet. Also make sure he doesn't have too much extra room in his crate because if he does he may use it as a potty area. We have a new sheltie puppy currently and she was going in her crate. We put a box in there to make her personal space smaller and she hasn't gone in there since. My golden came to love his crate, his own personal space to escape. When he was tired he would go in there at his own free will and rest. Of course he no longer needs a crate, hasn't in forever and has not had an accident since he was a puppy. 2) when we were home I would put him on a leash and attach the leash to my pants loop (learned this from a trainer) that way I could keep an eye on him at all times. Dogs will tend to go out of your eyesite to go to the bathroom so this way he was never out of my site and if he started displaying bathroom behaviors I could take him right out. Worked like a charm. Biting-well that was the hard part. I tried the small stuff first substituting his toys when he started chewing something he wasn't supposed to, making noises. None of that worked for him so I resorted to apple bitter and it worked. He was biting me horrible all the time, I always had horrible teeth marks on my arms and stuff. First I tried spraying the stuff I didn't want him to bite but it didn't work, I guess it wasn't strong enough. When that didn't work I started spraying the apple bitter on my finger and rubbing it on his gums whenever he bit me or something he wasn't supposed to. It worked almost instantly. Sure wish I could have figured that out sooner. To this day he never bites anything that is not his to chew. He is an amazing dog. Good luck to you.

 

[angela1044]

You've received a lot of great advice.

I would add that even though it is cute for a puppy to take your shoes, or sit on the couch, etc. Remember that this habit will continue when they are full size and not so cute. Be consistent at all times.

Also, spend time with your puppy while it is eating. Put your hands in his bowl, etc. I was bit as a child because my dog was eating. If a dog is comfortable with people being around him while he eats, it is much safer. We also spent time touching our dogs tails and ears so know that we have kids, she is fine.

Enjoy your puppy. The are a lot of work but fun too.

 

[Piglet121794]

Well I have a smaller dog(well two going on three actually ) but for the biting I might be able to help. If your dog is biting people what we did is grab her firmly by the mouth and tell her no. Not only will she learn the command no before her classes but she will learn that it is not okay to bite. If your dog is biting furniture I've used a spay that you can find at just about any local dog store. It tastes like sour apple and is supposed to make the dogs keeps their teeth of your furniture. It doesn't make it sticky and for most people it works pretty good. I wasn't one of those people because my dogs actually enjoyed the taste of it but I hope you have better luck

 

[SarahKate]

We have a 5-month old Shih Tzu, so a big size diff but still puppies are puppies for the most part!!!

Crate training is a must. Our little guy has no problem being in his crate. Dogs are den animals, and like having a safe place - make sure crate isn't too big. Just big enough for him to stand up and turn around, he shouldn't have the other end be large enough where he could go potty in there.

Consistency is KEY.

If they have an accident, it's your fault, not his. (see "consistency" above!) We are still struggling with this a bit.

Nip any biting in the bud, we have always just said "NO BITE" sternly and it has worked well for us but like some of the other ideas that other posters have suggested.

I have been using the little "poo" disposal bags that you see in the pet store. If he goes on a puppy pad, I'll use the bag, tie it off at the top and throw in the garbage - NO probs with smell at all, they are airtight. And it's sanitary so you never come in contact w/ the mess.

 

[budbeerlady]

We just got our puppy a month ago.

His favorite thing is his puppy kong. When ever he is going into his crate we toss his puppy kong in with him. Once is a while I put peanut butter in it, some times a treat, some times nothing. But a busy puppy is a quiet and eventually tired puppy.

He only gets the kong in his crate and he gets excited to go in and get it!

 

[buckirj1]

Train your kids to treat the puppy right!!!

 

[BigEeyore]

Goldens are the best! We are on our second golden .
Another vote for crate training - we kept our dog in the crate at night and when we went out.
There is a product called Bitter Apple spray - it is totally safe, and tastes terrible. When your dog is doing something inappropriate (chewing on something he's not supposed to, getting on furniture, etc) spray a little right into his mouth and sternly say NO.
A previous poster suggested taking the dog places to socialize him, but I would not do that until he is well vaccinated.
Congrats!!!!!